The Struggle Of Two Souls
by The Shaman Princess
Summary: When Ed's childhood friend shows up after seven years, how will she react when she finds out that the Elric brothers attempted forbidden alchemy? Read to find out!
1. Chapter One

I'm so nervous! This is my first fanfic posting, so… Well, please leave a comment so I can try to make my writing better… It'll probably be not that bad, but please leave me some constructive criticism. So… Here it is.

Also, a stupid side note: The song, "The Real Folk Blues", basically powers this fanfic. I listen to it as I work; go onto Ichigo's Sheet music and listen to it; it's inspiring.

The Struggle of Two Souls

Introduction

Boom. Everything people saw and heard for several miles out was a blinding white light and an explosion that seemed to last an eon. In the eye of the storm, two girls stood up from the destruction dancing around them. The children's creator sat back on their heels and laughed out loud,

"Well Elric, looks like I've finally outdone you this time."

Part One

"Hughes… Give me Fullmetal… Now…" Roy growled.

"But can't I tell him about Elysia first?" Hughes whined after putting his hand over the phone receiver. Roy held out his hand.

"No. Give him… Now…" he looked threateningly into Hughes face. Hughes sighed.

"Fine, fine," he said and reluctantly gave Roy the phone. Roy sighed and said,

"Fullmetal… You there?" On the other end, Ed leaned back on the glass phone booth doors and replied,

"Yeah, I'm here," slowly and heavily, as if it pained him to say it. Roy leaned back in his black, leather chair.

"Good. Now we have some matters we want you to delve a bit deeper into. We've been receiving reports of people seeing a bright light and hearing a large explosion in the towns around the mountains," he said. Ed whined,

"But why do I have to do it?" Roy placed his chin in his hands and calmly said,

"We're assuming that these explosions are alchemic, so who better to explore these than a state alchemist?" Ed groaned. Roy sneered,

"Would you rather me put Hughes back on the phone? I just know he's itching to tell you something about Elysia." At this, Hughes' ears immediately pricked up.

"Is someone talking about meeee?" he sang. Ed heard this in the background and screeched,

"No, no! Okay, I'm on it, just don't put Hughes on the phone, please!" Roy calmly said,

"Okay, just get to work," and he hang up without another word. Ed hung up as well and grumbled to himself,

"Inconsiderate bastard."


	2. Chapter Two

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews! I'm so happy, I'm so happy… People actually LIKE my work! Sorry, I freak out a lot like that. Anyway, here's a little more. Enjoy and keep up those reviews!

Also, another stupid side note: This time, I'm listening to Evangelion's "Cruel Angel's Thesis," or the beginning theme song, for those who don't know. FYI, I'm finding these songs off of Ichigo's Sheet Music. Go there; it's cool! Also, don't be afraid to use semicolons! Semicolons are GOOD!

Chapter 2

"Dammit… Al? How are we going to find the cause of these explosions if they can be seen from several towns over? Finding this person or people is going to be like trying to find a needle in a frickin' haystack!" Ed collapsed on the concrete sidewalk.

Now his forehead and nose were bleeding, but he couldn't care less. He just wanted to get the stupid mission out of his head and go to sleep. Al picked up his older brother by his arms.

"Stop treating me like a cat!" Ed yelled as he squirmed his way out of his sibling's grasp.

Al sighed and said, "Brother, stop procrastinating. We really should get to work on this, you know," and tried to pick Ed up again. Ed rolled over onto his stomach.

"Just five more min- oof!" Someone had actually tripped over him. Soon after came a little girl's wails and a shout from a woman.

"Umeko! Umeko! Are you okay?" A woman wearing a crimson shirt and a very, very long crimson skirt to match it shoved Ed to the streets.

Rather ticked off about a stranger shoving him and scraping him even more, he shouted, "Hey, what the hell was that for?" The woman reached into, yes, INTO her skirt, pulled out a fan, and smacked Ed clear across the face, all without even having to look at him.

She cooed to the crying girl, "It's okay, it's okay. We'll get you all bandaged up as soon as we get out of here." Another girl ran up to the woman in red.

"Elk? Is Umeko going to be okay?" she asked. The woman smiled.

"Yes, Sakura, Umeko is going to be okay," she replied. Ed stared at the woman in red.

He stuttered, "Elk? A-are you r-really Elk?" The woman looked and smiled at him.

She said, "Well, if it ain't Edward Elric. How long has it been?"


	3. Chapter Three

I really, really thank you for all the wonderful reviews! Thank you, Phantom Alchemist! Keep those reviews up! Anyway, I really can't believe people actually like my work. Okay, here's some more. And I'll try to make it longer this time.

FYI, I'm listening to Wolf's Rain's "Gravity" this time. It's cool. Listen to it!

Chapter 3

The fallen girl's wails grew louder with every second, it seemed. Ed and Elk just smiled at each other for a long period of time. The little girl named Sakura abruptly stopped this. Ed took a minute to look at her, too. Her entire outfit was red, a blood red.

It looked like a pair of pajamas with feet. The long, spacious sleeves were connected to the outfit by a large, red bow around Sakura's neck. Wrapped around her were two, very, very long white ribbons. Ed took a good look at her face next. The one thing he noticed was that her ears looked catlike.

But the thing that startled him the most was that her eyes had no irises. There was absolutely no color in her eyes. They were just big, black voids.

"What?" The girl cocked her head, confused about why Ed was staring at her. Ed shrugged.

"That a birth defect or somethin'?" Ed asked Elk, who was trying to comfort the injured girl.

"Hmm?" Elk murmured.

Ed asked again, "The eyes. They have no color. Is that a birth defect?" Elk nodded.

"Yeah. We don't know how it happened. She's not blind, I know that. I know as much as you do about her eyes." Elk looked at the girl on the ground.

"It's the same with Umeko as well," she said. Umeko had stopped crying now and stood up slowly. Ed stared at her this time. Umeko looked exactly like Sakura. The only thing setting them apart was that Umeko wore a pair of small, golden hoop earrings.

Elk looked around and asked, "Hey, where's Al? I haven't seen him in a long time!" Al almost spoke out but Ed hurriedly turned around and made a quick cutting movement across his throat. Al got the message immediately. Elk hadn't found out yet about the human transmutation, and Ed didn't want to think about how she would react.

"I lost him somewhere on the road, I was just heading back to look for him when I tripped and fell and bumped into Umeko," Ed lied quickly. Elk smiled.

"Well then, tell him I said 'Hello' when you find him!" she said. Ed nodded.

"I most certainly will!" he replied and walked down the road.

Elk shouted after him, "It was nice seeing you!" Ed just sighed a sigh of relief and stuck his hands in his pockets. Sakura tugged on Elk's skirt.

"Elk? Do you think that he knows about the Philosopher's Stone?" she asked. Elk looked at Sakura.

"No, I don't think so. Why would he ever need it? It's not like he's ever attempted human transmutation."


	4. Chapter Four

Wow, I can't believe that someone actually didn't have anything to criticize me about last time! Yaaay! I am a happy, happy girl! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Also, this time I found my music off of this really big index. It's HUGE! Anyway, it's called "Josh's Anime Sheet Music Master Index." They have a growing collection of 1,313 pieces! If you click on a title, it'll take you to the website where he found it. It is an index, after all! He also has some pieces that he made himself. One of them is Chrono Crusade's "Sangeki no Kioku," of which I listened to while writing this chapter. Anyway, please enjoy the next installment of "The Struggle Of Two Souls!"

Chapter 4

"I wonder why Elk was wandering around in a place like this?" Ed thought aloud to himself. He then thought of the mysterious little girls.

"We've never seen those two kids with Elk when we still lived in Resembool, either…" he murmured. Ed stopped walking for a minute.

"And what about those ribbons? And their eyes? Something's just not right about them, Al." Al nodded.

"It is kind of strange, I have to agree there," he said, looking back down the road. "Maybe we should go back and ask her what this is all about?" he added.

"I don't think that's the best thing to do," Ed said as he, too, glanced back at the road behind them.

"Do you have a better idea?" Al asked. Ed frowned at him.

"No, but…" Ed sighed and turned to face the way they had just came. "Okay, you win. Let's go talk to Elk. But I'm still unsure about this. What if there's something she's hiding and we get her mad for trying to get into it?"

Ed didn't even want to think about what Elk would do to him if she got angry. Still, he was still curious about why Elk had come to a town as unlikely as this one. Maybe there was something that she was hiding. Ed started to run up the road. Elk soon came within sight again, as well as earshot, and he heard the little girls talking to her.

"Elk? Why are you looking for the Philosopher's Stone?" one asked. Ed stopped walking. She was looking for the Philosopher's Stone?

"You see, I lost something of mine a long time ago. Something very important," Elk said.

Another girl piped up, "But Elk, I don't remember you losing anything!"

"That's because… you weren't there when it happened," Elk murmured, barely audible to Ed at this distance. She touched her chest.

"But why do you need the Philosopher's Stone to get it back?" one of the children asked.

"What I lost you can't get back by simply looking for it. This thing isn't as easy to get back as it sounds," Elk said mysteriously. Ed let out a small gasp. Had she attempted forbidden alchemy, too? If so, what had she paid?

She had no automail limbs, Ed was sure of that. So, what was this possession that she had lost and needed the Philosopher's Stone to get back? Could it be more valuable than an arm, a leg, or even a body?


	5. Chapter Five

I'm really, really sorry I haven't written in a while. My computer got rewritten, so I lost ALL of my fanfiction. I've also been through a huge period of time working on original fiction, as well as writer's block. Well, here's a flashback that I've been thinking of entering for quite a while now.

Chapter Five 

_The storm had reached its peak now. It was eleven o'clock in the morning, but the storm clouds covered everything and made it look like it was midnight. A teenage girl dressed in black played a flute by a pair of small tombstones. The last notes she played hovered hauntingly in the air for a few minutes. The girl's tears fell onto her silver flute and slid off as silently as they had come._

_She slowly dragged herself to the small brick house near the miniature graveyard. As soon as she entered her home, she sank to her knees and wept for what seemed like an eternity. The small orange cat that she owned rubbed against her legs lovingly. Still crying, the mourning girl patted its head slowly._

_"Moonstone, don't try to comfort me right now. I have to pack," she said quietly. She walked into her room and took off her black clothes, revealing a strange tattoo just above her breasts. It depicted two black snakes trying to bite each other's tails. The girl touched it briefly and dressed in a crimson shirt and a very, very large crimson skirt. _

_Her dark brown hair fell elegantly to her waist. She grabbed a brown leather suitcase from her closet, opened it, filled it with similar red clothes, and snapped it shut. She pulled out another suitcase and filled it with an assortment of sealed test tubes and beakers, all filled with a wide array of chemicals. She carefully snapped this suitcase shut as well. The orange cat curled itself around the girl's feet._

_She bent down to pet it. "I'm sorry, Moonstone. But I really have to go." Moonstone mewed pitifully. "I can't take you this time. _

"_I don't want to lose you, too." Moonstone mewed again. The girl started to cry. "Goodbye Moonstone…" she sobbed. She disregarded the red umbrella leaning in the corner by the door and walked out of the house, not looking back. _

_She didn't even shut the house's front door. There was nothing more valuable than memories there anyway, so what did it matter?_


End file.
